Friday, June 22, 2012

Monday, June 11, 2012

Yes, you read that right! 5 days and we will be headed up to GA! The apartment is pretty much all packed up except for the things we are using now...dishes, a few toys for the kids, shower curtains etc. The kids are out for the summer and are loving it! Here's a few pics from today. Hope you enjoy!{ BTW, they are all shot in manual mode! I'm pretty excited because I usually just shoot in Auto or TV mode...so yay me. I've always been intimidated to learn it, but now I am!!}

They were so nervous to stand in the middle of the road LOL! In hinsdight, I didn't compose this shot really well.....I should have emphasized the lines in the road better...but I was trying to hurry in case a car came! Oh well, I know what shot I have to work on! ;)

Little Miss Diva with her hand on her hip! Man, I think Michael and I are going to be in for it when she's a teen!

I love this cute little cottage! Isn't it darling??

My blue eyed beauty!

I love this sweet little face!

We are going on Wednesday to take some pics with my mom and grandma and are going to get some shots of the girls....my grandma, mom,me and Hailey...That's 4 generations :) I will post again soon!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

I woke up this morning and just felt like taking some pictures. Honestly, I haven't had the urge to do it in a while. I think it's because there is just so so much to take care of before the move. At least I hope that's what it is. We have the Sugar Mill Gardens about 5 minutes from our house and it is so stunning! Like, had I know about this place way back in 2003, I would have gotten married here. { we will try to renew our vows here though!!} Got the kids all ready and bribed them that if they "listened" and took good pics for me that we would go to BK for lunch and play in the play thing. That was all I had to say! I think I got some wonderful shots for the bribery!

I am just completely in LOVE with this one of Hailey! I just love her sweet little face and those blue blue eyes and the pop of pink next to her in the plant!

She wanted to wear my sunglasses. I normally always wear my shades outside because I have sensitive eyes. Anyways, I just did not need to wear them today! They were a nuisance so I took them off and as soon as I did Ms. Hailey snatched them up and FAST!

Yes, she's a D-I-V-A!!!

My husband LOVES this picture of Zach and Hailey. He said he loves how much Hailey loves her brother. I love how they BOTH love each other so so much!! They have had a bond since she was in my belly.

I think Mikey is warming up to the thought of taking photos! LOL. Normally I cannot get a good one of him or he runs away. Yay for him getting un-camera shy!

My model baby! She is so effortless and natural iin front of the camera and I love it!

My Z-man. He has the mischievous look in his eye......you see it??? ;)

I told you I wasn't kidding about Hailey and my sunglasses.......

The kids had fun and of course, I did too! Hope everyone has a fun Memorial Day weekend and please, let's remember that Memorial Day is not just about Summer and having fun, but it's about remembering our fallen Hero's.

Men are goal orientated. Their actions depend on what needs to be done. Does he want to appear to be in charge? Then he uses his body movements to control the discussion. If he wants to seem empathetic he will keep a calm face. [source: McManus].

9. Body Orientation

Picture
this: It's happy hour after work. On one side of the room, there's a
group of women, deep in conversation. Their chairs are all turned toward
each other, and they continually make eye contact. On the other side of
the room, there's a group of four men. They sit at angles to each
other. During much of their discussion, their eyes roam around the room,
glancing at each other infrequently. Each cluster is engaged in its
preferred style of talk. It's great for tonight, but when group members
are engaged with the opposite gender these preferences may cause problems.

One
specific aspect of nonverbal communication is body orientation. If a
man won't make eye contact or face his female conversational partner,
she (perceiving conversation as integral to relationships) may interpret
this as a lack of interest. He may become annoyed that she is rejecting
his efforts; to him, his relaxed body position is actually helping him
concentrate. The differences in physical alignment can make it difficult for talkers to reconcile the two styles [source: Tannen].

8.Arguments

Women often try to get their point across by asking many types of
questions: defiant, informational and rhetorical. The questions are
designed to present an opposition
or gather data. Men's contributions to arguments are often simple and
direct. They're so straightforward, in contrast to women's questions,
that men might not even realize that a conflict is occurring.
When,
finally, both parties realize they are disagreeing, their communication
styles have great impact. Men are concerned with being right and less
concerned about anyone else's feelings. This perceived lack of
compassion upsets women. Men dislike questions, interpreting them as
censure, and they react by closing down emotionally. This pattern leads women to become increasingly suspicious and wary. Time to go to separate corners [source: Booher, Whitworth].

7. Apologizing Women use apologies to try to create or maintain connections. Men, on
the other hand, are concerned with what an apology might do: It might
lower them to a subordinate position, a place where they've never wanted
to be since boyhood. [source: Tannen].6. Giving Compliments From a young age, females learn to give compliments; it's almost reflexive.
Compliments are a way of reaching out to one another, an offer of
affirmation and inclusion. Men are more likely to volunteer evaluations
instead of hand out compliments. Similarly, they will not seek out
compliments because they want to avoid being critiqued themselves.
Naturally,
these differing approaches complicate communication. If a woman asks a
question with the hope of being praised or flattered, a man may well see
it as a way to offer advice. This affects their relative power: The
advice-giver is automatically shifted to a higher position, with the
woman having lower status [source: Tannen].

5. Problem Solving Men and women approach an analytical discussion differently. As just
illustrated, men tend to focus on facts and seek immediate resolutions;
action is the conversational goal. Women desire more extensive talk
about problems, sharing feelings and finding common experiences.

Even if there's a mutual dilemma
to resolve, such diverse communication goals can lead to frustration.
Men don't understand why women don't want to solve problems, why they
seem ungrateful for direct help. Women are hurt by the perceived
disregard for emotions and frustrated when they believe they are being
pushed to decide too quickly [source: Torppa].

4. Getting Your Way

Men
and women have very different ways of trying to get what they want,
which can make it difficult to come to an agreement.

Women are typically
in conversation mode; they are more likely to ask questions. Their goal
is to get others to decide through agreement.

Men often interpret
this approach as manipulation. They will make statements rather than
suggestions. Their objective is to get their way directly and quickly.
If that doesn't work, they'll exit the discussion; they may either be
angry or simply less passionate about the subject.

These
discussions, then, often do not go smoothly. Men are resentful,
believing women are trying to trick them. If men won't participate in
back and forth negotiations, women feel slighted. This could easily turn
into an argument-something that no one intended [source: Tannen].

3. Chatterbox

Who talks more, men or women? Take into consideration all
interactions during the day, with family, work, friends and businesses.
Would you guess women are more loquacious? A lot of people would. And a
lot of people would be wrong.

Research indicates that there is no significant difference between
women and men in the amount of words spoken, although, when they do
talk, men tend to use more words at a time. The major difference appears
to be when men and women do their talking. Women spend more talking
time with family and close friends, expressing support and discussing
experiences. Men tend to talk more at work and in formal and social
settings, and their goal is the exchange of information, even when
conversing with a buddy.

At home, women do talk more and become perturbed with less responsive
partners. Women try to work on their relationships, while men see
little need to speak unless there is a specific purpose -- a problem to
solve, a decision to make [source: Tannen].

2.Interrupting

"Where are the bandages? I cut my-"
"Huh?"
"I was working on the-"
"Ooh, it's bleeding a lot."
"I know, that's why-"
"Here are the bandages. Do you want-"
"I'll do it."
"I could-"
"What are we doing for dinner?"

Most
people dislike being interrupted, but most people do it at one time or
another. Women interrupt to show concern, but they think men disrupt the
discussion by shifting the subject. Men do try to control the
conversation by disrupting it. They also believe a woman's supportive
interjections (for example, "go on") are interruptions.

Frequent interruptions, no matter the cause, no matter the target, can lead to frustration. This can build to anger
and, unless the guilty party gets things under control, the discussion
will come to a screeching halt. Or perhaps just screeching [source: Cowie].

1. Email

E-mail.
So helpful, convenient and quick. E-mail. So overused, annoying and
redundant. It's also pervasive. A 2009 study found 1.4 billion people
worldwide use e-mail, sending 247 billion messages daily [source: Radicati].
Due to the enormous number of e-mails sent, it's perhaps not surprising
that the tone of most messages is conversational, with little attempt
to revise that pattern.

Mistakes occur in spoken language, and they also
turn up in e-mail.
Most of the e-mail women send revolves around
relationships: being supportive, making suggestions, apologizing, asking
questions and offering thanks.

Men's e-mail
messages are very different. Not only do men more often portray
themselves as subject experts, but they have a more contentious
interaction style, employing sarcasm, profanity and insults. Men may be
looking for information from others through e-mail, but they are also
seeking influence and respect.

Communication, whether non-verbal,
verbal or typed into a computer, is open to interpretation. That is
especially true when men and women are evaluating each other. Awareness
of variability in communication styles can be the difference between an
effective, fulfilling conversation and a distressing upsetting,
prolonged argument [source: Rosetti].

So what did you learn? Nothing? Hahahahaaa. Me either. It's completely true. All of it. But I think we knew that! Anyone want to share how they get their hubbies to communicate better? It doesn't have to be important issues, it could just be regular stuff.

I'm sure my love and I are just in the " I haven't seen you in a while and its so hard to be apart that it hurts to talk about it" stage.......

Monday, May 14, 2012

How is it possible that it has been three months since I last posted?!? I
can't believe that. Hmmm, where to begin. I suppose with the kids.
Everyone is doing great! Zachary has officially learned all his
Kindergarten sight words and has moved on to learning his first grade
words. He also has his first loose tooth!! He is beyond excited.Mikey
is doing amazing in school also. All A's and B's on his last interim.
{this has been his pattern since the start of school!!} my little
princess is her normal bouncy self....except she's getting antsy about
the move. What move, you may ask? Well, I don't remember if I told you
all or not, but we are moving up to GA! Michael and I thought he would
be out of the Army {medically retired} by now, but it looks like it
could be anywhere from 5-8 more months. :( We found and locked down
{paid the deposit} for our rental house.

Kitchen, 1 bedroom, straight back is the bathroom and behind the stove wall is the laundry room. In front of the breakfast bar would be where our dining table goes....

One of the 3 bedrooms. This is only half of the room! The bedrooms are HUGE!

Part of the living room. Fireplace!!! :) Those two windows are on the front of the house.

The house! It's a triplex. We were very lucky because it's a month to month rental because we will be looking for our forever house once we get settled in. Also, Michael's cousin, his wife and kids live to doors down! It's going to be GREAT for the kids to have their cousins so close!

Hmmm, what next? I know. My work. It's been wonderful at Home Instead Senior Care! My client is moving to an assisted living apartment, so she had decided to stop using my company. :( I haven't been with her for about 3 weeks now and I miss her. Ya ya, I may be too attached, but I think that my genuine care and concern for people is what will make me a good nurse! I put in my two weeks notice just a few hours ago. It's definitely a bittersweet moment.